Tom Fannon shares his experience with managing the cost and consumption of chemical products on the farm; to keep both compliant and profitable.
Tom Fannon is the Owner and Manager at Fannon Agriculture, a 38-hectare apple and pear farm near Maidstone, Kent, UK. He didn’t grow up in a farming family or have an operation passed on to him, as is often the case in farming. Rather he and his father bought their first 6 hectares in 2015 and have expanded through purchasing and/or renting land. Their growth ambitions have been fueled by a focus on profitability.
Tom manages the business with a small but efficient team, including an office manager and a driver and a focus on controlling input costs.
“The only cost bigger than chemical is the labour cost”
This is true for most farms, but it’s easy to forget how much value is tied up in the storage shed. Beyond optimising the operating costs associated with chemicals, there is also a compliance requirement for many farms to track what products they keep on the farm. In the UK, Red Tractor certifications require that farms keep a physical list in the storage area itself of the list of chemical products and their relative volumes.
Easier said than done
Optimising the management of this cost bucket is no small task. At Fannon Agriculture, there are about 50 different chemical products stored on-site. During the spraying season, the stock levels can change quickly and it can be difficult to track what is on hand at any moment in time. That’s a challenge for both daily operations and compliance reporting.
Tom breaks down the way his farm managed chemical inventories in the past:
- Receive a spray recommendation from his Advisor
- Drive 10 miles to the storage shed
- Check the current inventory level on different products for the recommended spray
- Drive 10 miles home
- Place an order with his chemical supplier
The team’s office manager was also making frequent trips 10 miles out to the storage shed to keep the paper list of product inventory updated for their Red Tractor certification. Each change required a spreadsheet update, re-print and 20 miles of driving.
Some info for you
Farmable was originally founded on the premise of simplifying on-farm work processes through digital tools developed on our own farm in Norway. Over the past five years, we have received valuable feedback from farmers worldwide, particularly in our focus countries such as Spain, Germany, the UK, Australia, and South Africa. Today, we stand as a leading farm management software provider with more than 35 000 farms registered.
Farm Management Software (FMS), at its core, is about streamlining daily agricultural activities and meticulously documenting essential data from these activities. A prime example is the precise mixing of spray tanks for plant protection treatments, a critical process for farm operations. Farmable empowers farmers by ensuring they correctly mix spray tanks, adhere to product label limits, and maintain high health, safety, and environmental (HSE) standards. These are just a few examples of the significance of FMS in modern agriculture. Whether you use Farmable software or another digital tool, we are happy to see digital progress in the horticulture industry. Are you wondering about effective approaches to data management for your farm? Check out our series on Organizing Your Farm Data and Automating Your Documentation.
Today with Farmable Inventory Management
For the past 2 seasons, Tom and his team have been using Farmable Pro to manage farm operations. Starting in the 2024 season, Fannon is using Farmable’s latest add-on module, Product Inventory Management. The module allows Tom and his office manager to see stock levels for any of their 50 products from the convenience of their phone, at any point in time. When a spray application is completed, the inventory level is immediately updated.
At the beginning of this season, Fannon Agriculture has 14,789 GBP of product inventory in stock. That’s a lot of value for a small business and it’s helpful to have an easily accessible overview.
Tom explains, “It’s quite easy to see where my money is tied up”.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact us for support or to assist with your use case.
Creating Value for the Farm
Tom pays 129 GBP/year for the Product Inventory Management solution from Farmable, and in addition to saving his team time and diesel driving to and from the storage shed, the module offers him the following benefits:
- Reduces the risk of low stock levels in the case of high pest or disease pressure
- Simplifies the planning of product purchases
- Supports adherence to compliance audits, such as Red Tractor or Global GAP
- Provides insights on chemical spend per field
Profitability per field
On Tom’s farm, every sprayer has a tablet with the Farmable App installed. The team uses the app to track their operational jobs, such as spraying, thinning, pruning and mowing. They can easily see who did what and where from their mobile phones.
In addition to using the Product Inventory Management module, Fannon Agriculture uses Farmable’s Teams & Timesheets to track labour costs per field. With 90% of the farm’s operating costs tied up in chemical products and labour costs; Tom can find his break-even point for the field easily. He can see product cost and labour costs broken down by field at any moment, directly on his mobile. Tracking these 2 data points consistently across the entire farm makes it easy for him to maintain that focus on profitability.
Tom explains, “Our whole business works on keeping things simple. This is simple and it works”
Keeping control at your farm
It’s been 100 days since the team at Farmable launched the Product Inventory Management add-on module. Farms from 8 different countries have started their 2024 season with a streamlined solution for managing the chemical products kept on-farm. Farmable offers a 14-day free trial with any purchase, making it easy to test the solution and verify if it’s suitable for your farming operation.
If your farm needs to comply with EU regulations, FreshCare, Red Tractor, QS Gap or Global GAP, the Farmable platform can help you manage farm data in a simple and affordable way. The Farmable app is now available in 10 different languages and enables growers around the world to simplify their data management for compliance processes.
Would you like to simplify data management on your farm?
